ABSTRACT
The years 1869 to 1871 saw a quickening pace in the development of naval education. Young officers witnessed the arrival of a new training ship, the introduction of external validation for the Britannia course and a new syllabus. As we have seen, measures were also put in place to bring competition into the entry process and ensure that candidates with the necessary social and service connections also possessed the mental ability to cope with the course. Much of this flurry of activity was derived from the reforming zeal of the Liberal First Lord, Hugh Childers. He had been warned by his Tory predecessor about what was termed ‘the number of dunces in the lower branches of the Service’1 and had moved swiftly to introduce new regulations. It was in higher education however that Childers directed his principal efforts, starting with a fundamental review of the training of mid seniority and senior officers that would lead to both a new institution and a system of education designed to reflect and react to the technological demands of the day. Up to 1869 this task had been undertaken at the Royal Naval College Portsmouth which although it had talented staff and undertook some innovatory, high quality work, was far too small and under resourced to support the rapid technological development of the fleet. Within days of his arrival at the Admiralty Childers set to work with energy, application and what has been described as ‘the unconcealed belief that all power in the Navy was vested in him alone’.2 Over the next 15 months he would transform the provision of higher education in the Service.
